Leinster Turn A Corner At Thomond Park

28 December 2015

Leinster put their European woes of late behing them last night in the Guinness Pro 12.

After back to back losses against French Top 14 giants Toulon, ending their European hopes, Leo Cullen's side bounced back in the big inter-provincial derby against Munster. They won out 24 points to 7 with Sean O'Brien returning from injury to put in a man of the match display.

It all started very brightly for Leinster, against a Munster side, also licking their wounds following their own back to back European defeats.

Gary Ringrose put in a performance, certainly a contender for man of the match, the young center found acres of space and split through the Munster defence from outside the 22 and into the 5 meter area before offloading to Isa Nacewa whoscored the first try of the night, with Ian Madigan finding the extras. Madigan hit a penalty not long after to give his side a 0-10 lead.

Munster have paid dearly over the last few weeks for not being able to finish but as half time edged closer, they finally found themselves over the line after some great phase play off a scrum, Robin Copeland crashing over to give the sell-out crowd belief their team could get the monkey off their backs.

Having scored the first, Isa Nacewa turned provider for their second try not long after the break. He collected a cross-field kick, and his break set things up nicely as the forwards bashed forward inches from the line, eventually it was Jack McGrath who touched down with Madigan making sure the game was a 10 pointer once more.

Munster's territory was edging on the 60% mark but again, quite like their performances over the last few weeks, lack of finishing let them down, in the final seconds of the game, Francis Saili tried an ambitious wide pass which was easily picked off by Zane Kirchner, who raced the length of the pitch to score.

A fifth defeat in a row for the home side and a third in succession at home. You can hear post match reaction from Leinster coach, Leo Cullen below.